After one of the best autumn fishing runs in nearly a decade, the Mississippi River trout bite will come to an end by Christmas.

Anglers have been catching ridiculously easy limits of specks in the river all the way up to Empire, but the last two cold fronts dropped large amounts of rain in the Midwest and Plains, and that water is making its way down to the delta.

An approaching jump in the Mississippi River will drive speckled trout from many of the recent hotspots, including Cupid's Gap, where Eric Pendarvis caught this fish on a recent trip. (Photo by Todd Masson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the river will be 5.8 feet above sea level at the New Orleans Carrollton gauge on Dec. 25.

That will drive specks out of the river, including from popular areas like Cupid's Gap and anything north.